3d print of a combat robot chassis in translucent green INOVA-1800 filament and cubic infill. I didn’t start out to have it look like a snake- the pupils in the engraved eyes were originally round, but when I saw another print of the wheel skirts and noticed the reptile pattern, I hopped back in Fusion 360 and quickly changed them to snake eyes!

The LulzBot Mini made a beautiful print, and the build volume was “just right” for a plastic ant. A good rule of thumb- If you need a LulzBot TAZ‘s build volume, your ant is going to be too heavy (ask me how I know..).

Angle view to show infill pattern

I created the model in Autodesk Fusion 360 (free for maker / student / non-commercial use!!) which has been an easy to use yet staggeringly powerful 3D modeling tool for quickly iterating through designs. The cloud sync makes it a snap to move between computers!

Side view- check out those nice unsupported overhangs!

The key to is the infill pattern. I was experimenting with different infill patterns in the new CURA 2 LulzBot Edition Alpha and chose cubic for it’s strength. By happy accident, the combination of the translucent green INOVA-1800 and cubic infill yielded this cool pattern! Pictured don’t really do it justice as the surface is shiny, and the pattern shifts as it catches the light.